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Soil oxidases recovered faster than hydrolases in a 50-year chronosequence of desert revegetation

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Abstract

Aims

Desert characterized by alkaline soil with low organic matter and nutrients has a high soil oxidative potential. We hypothesized that oxidase activities would recover faster than hydrolases during the succession of sand-fixing community.

Methods

Sand dunes stabilized in different years, including a moving sand dune and a steppe at the southeastern fringe of the Tengger Desert, were selected to investigate restoration of extracellular enzyme activities (EEAs) in a 50-year chronosequence.

Results

Oxidases showed significantly higher activities than hydrolases at all ten studied sites and EEAs exibited a decreasing trend from catalase, phenol oxidase, sucrase, urease, alkaline phosphatase, α-Amylase to cellulase. After 50 years of revegetation, most EEAs in topsoil recovered to 50–83% of that of the steppe except for urease. Oxidase activities recovered earlier and faster than hydrolases, while hydrolases activities attained the fastest recovery at 19–25 years in the 50-year chronosequence.

Conclusions

Recovery of EEAs was modulated by the succession of the sand-fixed community: oxidases activities exhibited peak recovery rates at the stage when shrubs dominated the community, while recovery of hydrolases activities appeared to be mainly regulated by biological soil crusts and annual plants.

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Abbreviations

EEAs:

Extracellular enzyme activities

BSCs:

Biological soil crusts

MSD:

Moving sand dunes

SFD:

Sand-fixed dunes

H90:

Hallow of sand-fixed dunes revegetated in 1990

W87:

Windward of sand-fixed dunes revegetated in 1987

L81:

Leeward of sand-fixed dunes revegetated in 1981

W81:

Windward of sand-fixed dunes revegetated in 1981

C64:

Crest of sand-fixed dunes revegetated in 1964

W64:

Windward of sand-fixed dunes revegetated in 1964

C56:

Crest of sand-fixed dunes revegetated in 1956

W56:

Windward of sand-fixed dunes revegetated in 1956

REF:

Reference steppe site north-facing slope

CAT:

Catalase

PHO:

Phenol oxidase

SUC:

Sucrase

URE:

Urease

ALP:

Alkaline phosphohydrolase

AMY:

α-amylase

CEL:

Cellulase

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by the Innovation Project from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-EW-301-3) and the Chinese National Natural Sciences Foundation (Grant No. 40971033 and 31170385). We appreciate Prof. Shiping Wang for reviewing the manuscript. We thank Dr. Hans Lambers and two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments that greatly improved the presentation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shapotou Desert Research and Experimental Station, Cold and Arid Region Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Donggang West Road 320, Lanzhou, 730000, People’s Republic of China

    Zhi-Shan Zhang, Yu-Bin Liu, Xin-Rong Li, Rong-Liang Jia, Yi-Gang Hu, Ming-Zhu He & Lei Huang

  2. Central Grasslands Research Extension Center, North Dakota State University, Streeter, ND, 58483, USA

    Xue-Jun Dong

Authors
  1. Zhi-Shan Zhang
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  2. Xue-Jun Dong
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  3. Yu-Bin Liu
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Correspondence to Zhi-Shan Zhang.

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Responsible Editor: Tim Simon George.

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Zhang, ZS., Dong, XJ., Liu, YB. et al. Soil oxidases recovered faster than hydrolases in a 50-year chronosequence of desert revegetation. Plant Soil 358, 275–287 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-012-1162-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-012-1162-2

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